Security Quality Requirements Engineering Technical Report
November 2005 • Technical Report
Nancy R. Mead, Eric Hough, Ted Stehney II
In this 2005 report, the authors present the SQUARE Methodology for eliciting and prioritizing security requirements in software development projects.
Publisher:
Software Engineering Institute
CMU/SEI Report Number
CMU/SEI-2005-TR-009
Subjects
Abstract
Requirements engineering, a vital component in successful project development, often does not include sufficient attention to security concerns. Studies show that up-front attention to security can save the economy billions of dollars, yet security concerns are often treated as an afterthought to functional requirements. Industry can thus benefit from a model to examine security requirements in the development stages of the production life cycle.
This report presents the Security Quality Requirements (SQUARE) Methodology for eliciting and prioritizing security requirements in software development projects, which was developed by the Software Engineering Institute's Networked Systems Survivability (NSS) Program. The methodology's steps are explained, and results from its application in recent case studies are examined. The NSS Program continues to develop SQUARE, which has proven effective in helping organizations understand their security posture and produce products with verifiable security requirements.